Editor's Note: An article has been making the rounds—“How to Talk to a Woman Who is Wearing Headphones.” The simple answer: don't. However, just in case a man is thinking “oh if well headphones are definitely out, how else can I bother women,” we're here to let you know that talking to a woman reading a romance novel is also a no-go—there are things we prefer more than talking to you. Lots of things.*

These days, it can be hard to meet women. Many of the girls you meet on the subway or at the bus stop have their noses buried in a romance novel. But that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to them!

If a woman reading a romance novel is single and hoping to meet a boyfriend (or even a false fiancé to placate her family at her sister’s wedding), she will usually be happy to close her book and give you an opportunity to antagonize her for 300 pages before groveling in the third act. You just have to know how to approach her.

What to Do to Get Her Attention

Interested in giving Historical Romance a try, but are frustrated by the Secret Language of Incomprehensible Terms? And seemingly Random Capitalization? Here’s a primer to some common items found in most historicals. And yes, there will be a quiz at the end, so pay attention!

CLOTHING

Pelisse: A close-fitting coat for ladies that falls the length of her dress.

Spencer: A pelisse that stops just underneath the bust. Think of it as a Regency Bolero jacket

Reticule: A Regency-era purse. Usually a knitted or beaded bag with a drawstring top.

They remind me of a crocheted purse I made in 1971 the 7th grade. Mine looked just like this, but was blue with a white stripe. With red fringe. It was a very patriotic purse. And I was a very cool 7th grader.

Modiste: Contrary to recently overheard opinion, “Modiste” is not a fancy way to say “modest.” It is a fancy way to say “Dressmaker.”

The girl on the screen is gorgeous; her blonde hair falls like a waterfall around her shoulders as her half-exposed breasts heave up and down with nerves and anticipation. She bites her luscious lip, her pupils dilated and her skin shines with sheen of sweat. He enters her bedroom, and she shivers, speechless. She instinctively backs away, but there is nowhere to go. He crossed to her swiftly and tosses her to the bed, intent in his eyes. The girl gives a husky cry, and closes her eyes in submission, too spent to fend him off any longer…

You’ve seen this movie a thousand times before, right? Quick question though—is this a romance scene… or a horror?

Scandalous Heroes is an anthology of 9 stories by authors well known by readers of multicultural romance novels. This collaboration highlights the respective strengths of the authors that their fervent followers are well familiar with when it comes to their books.

First in the anthology is Sienna Mynx’s contribution, Rallenti. Those of who are fans of her Battaglia Series, and I am definitely one, are in for a real treat with the passionate love story of Renaldo Cracchiolo and Kyra Okeeno. They’re smitten from the very beginning but the language barrier is an initial obstacle, but soon, they don’t need words to express their growing attraction. They both are characters not looking to be tied down, Renaldo due to his job as an enforcer/ bodyguard and Kyra due to youthful ambition. Yet both find themselves craving the other more than they thought they would. Renaldo and Kyra find themselves fighting feelings, as well as an ex that just won’t accept the conclusion of the relationships plus the divergent paths carved out by their respective lives. The risks they take for they love as well as the overall banter make this one very enjoyable love story.

Aliyah Burke’s story is connected to her Megalodon series, titled Raw Exposure. Reeve Leighton and Affrica O’Shea definitely don’t meet cute. In fact, she can’t stand him upon their initial meeting, in which he pretty much insults her character. It takes Reeve, who is taken with Affrica from the beginning, some time to show her that he’s not the pompous jerk she believes him to be despite the mutual attraction. And even then, Reeve has a lot to learn as he’s spent most of his life being a thoughtless playboy. Affrica is an entertaining, independent female protagonist who tough and stubborn yet optimistic. The dance between Affrica and Reeve as they fall in love, as well as the growth of Reeve as a character, is absorbing.

The Memory of Lost Senses is my first Judith Kinghorn book. It won't be my last. This book tells the overlapping stories of two women, Cecily and Cora. Cecily Chadwick's story begins in 1911, when Cora, a mysterious countess with (possibly) at least three former husbands, moves into the neighborhood with her handsome grandson.

It takes a while for the two intertwining plots (Cecily's and Cora's) to get going, but the language in this book is so beautiful that the wait is no hardship.

We start with Cecily, at a cricket match on a summer afternoon and about to meet Jack (the handsome grandson).

In the middle of the green the yellowing grass turned to molten silver, the players blurring into the pool of liquefied metal: like a mirage, Cecily thought. Only a few wore white flannels, the majority were in their usual working clothes, with shirtsleeves rolled back and braces exposed. And beyond them, at the other side of the field, clear and solid, and dazzlingly white, stood Bramley's new pavilion.

The scene is set for Cecily and Jack's first meeting and you can almost feel summer and sense the mirage-like effect of the heat.

Thirty-five-year-old American social media master Vanessa Roberts lives her thoroughly modern life with aplomb. So when her elderly Jane Austen–centric aunt needs her to take on the public relations for Julian Chancellor, a very private man from England who’s written a book called My Year as Mr. Darcy, Vanessa agrees. But she’s not “excessively diverted,” as Jane Austen would say.

Hardbound books, teacups, and quill pens fly in the face of her e-reader, coffee, and smartphone…

…Until she sees Julian take his tight breeches off for his Undressing Mr. Darcy show, an educational “striptease” down to his drawers to promote his book and help save his crumbling estate. The public relations expert suddenly realizes things have gotten…personal. But can this old-fashioned man claim her heart without so much as a GPS? It will take three festivals filled with Austen fans, a trip to England, an old frenemy, and a flirtatious pirate re-enactor to find out…Thirty-five-year-old American social media master Vanessa Roberts lives her thoroughly modern life with aplomb. So when her elderly Jane Austen–centric aunt needs her to take on the public relations for Julian Chancellor, a very private man from England who’s written a book called My Year as Mr. Darcy, Vanessa agrees. But she’s not “excessively diverted,” as Jane Austen would say.

Undressing Mr. Darcy by Karen Doornebos is a love story between the heroine, Vanessa Roberts, and...wait for it...Jane Austen. Yes, there's a hero and a not-so-much-a-hero in the book. There's the heroine's beloved aunt (a rabid Janeite, naturally) and her aunt's belated but true love. But this story is really about a modern woman who had deliberately eschewed learning about Jane Austen, learning to love her.